Final Review of The Legendary Starfy
Jun. 20th, 2009 08:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
major_kerinaThis is about a 10 hours platforming game on the DS. I thought it was fun, all told.
This game reminds me a lot of Super Princess Peach. It has particular moves that evolve over the course of the game and it has special powers as well. And the main hero is a bit of a creampuff as well :-p.
Gameplay
Typical platformer. You through eight different main worlds (and one extra which is rather short and simple) with about seven sub-level. Of those seven, three are unlockable secret levels and four are the main ones. The secret pathways are usually glaringly obvious to unlock...but it helps your shellfish friend's eyes do things when these pathways are nearby.
You play a star-thing. You can move, move faster, and haul ass. You can spin, super spin, and spin till you hurl. Spinning exposes one of the problems I had with this game. If you spin more than three times in a row...you are level dizzy and unable to move for about a second. In boss battles, this will ruin your day. Unlimited spins or a powerup for spins would've helped this issue. Why exactly can you spin...wait briefly...spin...but if you speed that any, you lose it? It's odd and feel like an arbitrary thing. Fighting with this limitation provides probably the only real challenge in the game. You will die solely based on this limitation (boss battles again...I died maybe once in the whole game outside of boss battles). You have various other moves and your alien bunny friend transforms you into a fire dragon (great powerup), a chicken (most annoying/useless powerup I've ever used), a seal (mostly useful but it makes some levels harder too), and a ghost thing (probably the most useful powerup and it's a shame it's not used more).
This game mostly uses the control face and the moves it demands can be exhausting. My hands are quite sore from just short sessions of this game. I don't know what it is, but it feels like the particular combinations of play are just exhausting. You're able to save and leave levels regularly with little characters like mermaids that show up.
Graphics
This game is mostly a sprite-based game but it has random instances of 3D suddenly showing up (like the weird final battle with a dragon form creature). The animations are mostly nice and utterly Japanese-y. Moe the Clam is amusingly animated.
Storyline
There's not much of one. You're saving the world and a bunny land from pirates that yearn for power. There are some amusing mostly but most of the story is generic and skippable. The cinematics are very Japanese too with written sound effects and a manga style (but cuddly-type).
Features
Outside of the main game, you can spend the orb-like currency on various clothing items that you can check out on a 3D viewer outside the game. It's kinda superfluous as a Sexy Star Dress-up thing o_o. It's just kinda there. Mini-games are amusing but only if you have more than one person nearby. Also, there's a co-op mode that comes in at rare instances. It's so random that you can't really plan with a friend around it but it also seems to require certain unlockables be found only with the help of a friend. Since I have no friends (nearby and with DSs) I say a hearty 'booo!". There are post-game unlockables like a Smash-like toy/trophy machine you feed your tokens into, music lists (most forgettable), and a boss challenge mode (which is actually rather challenging in comparison to the rest of the game).
In short
+ Fun and lengthy platformer with a cute style.
+ Easy experience on the DS while providing challenges for those who seek it.
+ Fun character designers and some fun story elements.
+ A few fun boss battles (like the Rock-Paper-Scissors one).
- Not as long as some in its series (I've read).
- There is no challenge here for experienced players
- There is also too much challenge here for kids.
In conclusion, Starfy is a cute little series. I just wish this wasn't the first time Nintendo saw fit to release it over here. The previous versions sound a lot more fun than this one. But new games are new games and this one isn't bad. It's platformer-lite.
PS - I unlocked a secret boss @_@...holy crap...there's a danmaku sequence to it. It's insane. It's like someone snuck it in. Crazy...there's secret hard all over this game...
This game reminds me a lot of Super Princess Peach. It has particular moves that evolve over the course of the game and it has special powers as well. And the main hero is a bit of a creampuff as well :-p.
Gameplay
Typical platformer. You through eight different main worlds (and one extra which is rather short and simple) with about seven sub-level. Of those seven, three are unlockable secret levels and four are the main ones. The secret pathways are usually glaringly obvious to unlock...but it helps your shellfish friend's eyes do things when these pathways are nearby.
You play a star-thing. You can move, move faster, and haul ass. You can spin, super spin, and spin till you hurl. Spinning exposes one of the problems I had with this game. If you spin more than three times in a row...you are level dizzy and unable to move for about a second. In boss battles, this will ruin your day. Unlimited spins or a powerup for spins would've helped this issue. Why exactly can you spin...wait briefly...spin...but if you speed that any, you lose it? It's odd and feel like an arbitrary thing. Fighting with this limitation provides probably the only real challenge in the game. You will die solely based on this limitation (boss battles again...I died maybe once in the whole game outside of boss battles). You have various other moves and your alien bunny friend transforms you into a fire dragon (great powerup), a chicken (most annoying/useless powerup I've ever used), a seal (mostly useful but it makes some levels harder too), and a ghost thing (probably the most useful powerup and it's a shame it's not used more).
This game mostly uses the control face and the moves it demands can be exhausting. My hands are quite sore from just short sessions of this game. I don't know what it is, but it feels like the particular combinations of play are just exhausting. You're able to save and leave levels regularly with little characters like mermaids that show up.
Graphics
This game is mostly a sprite-based game but it has random instances of 3D suddenly showing up (like the weird final battle with a dragon form creature). The animations are mostly nice and utterly Japanese-y. Moe the Clam is amusingly animated.
Storyline
There's not much of one. You're saving the world and a bunny land from pirates that yearn for power. There are some amusing mostly but most of the story is generic and skippable. The cinematics are very Japanese too with written sound effects and a manga style (but cuddly-type).
Features
Outside of the main game, you can spend the orb-like currency on various clothing items that you can check out on a 3D viewer outside the game. It's kinda superfluous as a Sexy Star Dress-up thing o_o. It's just kinda there. Mini-games are amusing but only if you have more than one person nearby. Also, there's a co-op mode that comes in at rare instances. It's so random that you can't really plan with a friend around it but it also seems to require certain unlockables be found only with the help of a friend. Since I have no friends (nearby and with DSs) I say a hearty 'booo!". There are post-game unlockables like a Smash-like toy/trophy machine you feed your tokens into, music lists (most forgettable), and a boss challenge mode (which is actually rather challenging in comparison to the rest of the game).
In short
+ Fun and lengthy platformer with a cute style.
+ Easy experience on the DS while providing challenges for those who seek it.
+ Fun character designers and some fun story elements.
+ A few fun boss battles (like the Rock-Paper-Scissors one).
- Not as long as some in its series (I've read).
- There is no challenge here for experienced players
- There is also too much challenge here for kids.
In conclusion, Starfy is a cute little series. I just wish this wasn't the first time Nintendo saw fit to release it over here. The previous versions sound a lot more fun than this one. But new games are new games and this one isn't bad. It's platformer-lite.
PS - I unlocked a secret boss @_@...holy crap...there's a danmaku sequence to it. It's insane. It's like someone snuck it in. Crazy...there's secret hard all over this game...
